$4.5 Billion for ‘clean energy’

The Rudd Government has revealed plans to invest $4.5 billion to support clean energy, made up of $2.4 billion for new coal technologies, $1.6 billion in solar technologies, and $465 million to establish a new organisation called ‘Renewables Australia’.
The $1.6 billion anted-up for solar represents a ten-fold increase in government funding. This new ‘Solar Flagship Program’ plans to have four new solar plants feeding the national grid, with a total capacity of 1000 MW (equal to one of Australia’s 30 giant coal-fired plants). In a joint media release with Martin Ferguson and Climate Change Minister Wong, Environment Minister Peter Garrett claimed that this ‘ambitious’ target will be three times the size of any solar project currently operating anywhere in the world. But the full capacity will not be on-line until 2017, by which time the world’s solar leaders (USA and Spain notably) are expected to have installed as much as 20 000 MW of solar plant. In fact in the same week that the government announced it’s plans, the Californian giant BrightSource Energy signed contracts to complete 14 plants generating a total of 2600 MW over the next four years while Spain plans to have another 730 MW on line by 2010, according to an article on RenewableEnergyWorld.com.
Mark Diesendorf from the University of NSW told ABC Radio National on May 13: “The kind of resources that are being directed to renewable energy here are the resources that you give if you only want to keep doing one-off demonstration projects. What renewable energy needs now is the incentives to expand the market on an on-going basis to build commercial solar power stations and large scale commercial wind farms.”
Minister Garrett claims “The Government’s commitment to establish the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute will ensure that Australia continues to be a world leader in the development of low emissions coal technology.” But many people think the government is putting it’s money into unproven technologies rather than into renewables, in a desperate attempt to green-wash Australia’s position as the world’s biggest coal exporter.

Coal exploration off coast

Alarm bells have been ringing in the conservation movement since late last year when East Coast Minerals (ECM) applied for licenses to explore 6000 square kilometres of ocean for coal reserves close to the NSW coast between Wollongong and Newcastle. The company is waiting for federal government approval with a decision expected later this year.
ECM proposes to use the underground coal gasification (UCG) process, an untested “green” technology based on controlled burning of coal in the underground seam. Air is forced down a pipe into the coal bed where it combines with ignited coal to produce syngas which is returned to the surface via a second pipe. Syngas – 12 per cent hydrogen, 30 per cent carbon monoxide and 50 per cent nitrogen – will then be used to create diesel fuel, according to ECM managing director Richard Sealey. He said NSW Government estimates indicate there are about 28 billion tonnes of coal in the exploration zone.
Anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd member Vanessa Pearce said work prior to extraction of Syngas creates problems for whales and dolphins because of the use of seismic and sonic exploration techniques. “There have been cases of whale beachings associated with offshore explorations for oil and gas,” she said. “The continental shelf off Australia’s east coast is a major migratory route for humpback whales, the mainstay of the valuable and growing whale watching industry.” Pearce said the drilling rigs would be clearly visible from the coast, and major industrial sites with potential for pollution, traffic and safety issues would have to be built at every point where the pipelines meet the shore. “Most of the adjacent coastal area is either developed or national park so it’s hard to know where the output from the offshore rigs will come ashore,” she said.
The Green’s recent submission to the NSW Department of Primary Industries argues that at a time of peak oil and climate change, NSW should be looking to renewable sources of energy rather than continuing its dependence on coal. And according to website ‘theoildrum.com’, exploration of coal reserves is becoming frantic as available oil diminishes. At the same time, heavily polluting conventional coal-fired electricity plants are becoming unfeasible worldwide as environmental regulations tighten.
The Economist magazine reported that new ‘clean air’ rules in the USA have led to cancellation of dozens of coal-fired plants – in Nevada a $5 billion 1500 MW plant was scrapped and the company is now investing in solar and wind generation. But more than 500 new coal-fired plants are planned to go online in China by 2012.

Proposed Metro stirs up the Inner West

the proposed CBD Metro from the city to Rozelle is creating ongoing controversy in the Leichhardt Council area, with councillors holding widely different views. The two Labor councillors both maintain strong support for the project, while the Greens, the Liberals and the Independent councillors are opposed.
Locals are worried about the the effects on traffic near the station, and about the nuisance and noise that will be generated by the five year construction program. Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker (Greens) said “ A Childcare centre, local businesses and the local neighbourhood centre are all under threat by the proposed Metro, and questions about traffic, the lack of parking and whether such a huge expenditure would be better spent in the north west remain.” He noted that the Metro would carry up to thirty thousand passengers per hour but that buses at a Rozelle terminal could only handle three thousand.
But Cr Darcy Byrne (Labor) said “ I strongly support a metro system for Sydney and the CBD Metro is the first step. The CBD Metro will see fast trains going from Rozelle to Town Hall and Central every 2 – 3 minutes, this will be fantastic for the Rozelle, Balmain and Lilyfield communities.” Cr Lyndal Howlison (Labor) also confirmed her support for a Metro system, pointing out that Sydney’s existing heavy rail structure is creaking at the seams. She noted the serious crowding and difficult access in peak hour at Wynyard or Town Hall as examples. “Sydney has outgrown those stations. This situation must be addressed before more people are brought into the CBD on trains.”
Other councillors do not share this enthusiasm. Cr Gordon Weiss (Liberal) is a representative of the ward that includes Balmain. He also is concerned that the position of the station under the intersection of Balmain and Victoria roads will cause traffic problems. Cr Weiss noted that Compulsory Acquisition Orders are expected for the properties on all four corners of the intersection to provide the superstructure for the station. He said “The project cost is blowing out before they even start work. It is the wrong place to be spending this huge sum of money”, and said that it might not even happen “as the government doesn’t have the money for it and it is hard to imagine another private public consortium after the disasters of the Lane Cove Tunnel and the Cross City Tunnel”. Cr John Stamolis (Independent) also in the Balmain ward agreed. “Public transport to the inner-city certainly needs to be improved but this could be best done by innovative and cost-effective solutions such as a light rail extension, improved ferry and bus services. Terminating a metro service at Rozelle is problematic. Residents have expressed concerns to me about all these issues.”

Shooting through to Dulwich Hill by tram

A protest in support of extending the existing Metro Light Rail from Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill met Bob Carr when he launched the Museum of Sydney’s exhibition Shooting Through on a tram.
The EcoTransit Sydney community group made sure placards calling for “Light Rail Now” were always in view of the TV cameras there for the exhibition’s opening. To a chant of “17 million not 4 billion” protesters wove through the crowd with a large polystyrene model of a Metro tram held over their heads, and handed out copies of the EcoTransit Sydney (ETS) newsletter and a flyer outlining how Carr had promised to extend light rail in 2000, but did not follow through.
Leichhardt Mayor Jamie Parker spoke passionately in support of the new line and compared the $4Bn price tag for the mini metro to Rozelle with the $17 m required to extend the existing Metro Light Rail.
“An extension to Dulwich Hill is a must and we need another line to the Quay as advocated by Clover Moore,” Parker said.
The mayor described light rail as a cheap, low-cost and low footprint technology and said the extension would take less than a year to fit out and should be started immediately. “Most of the infrastructure already exists, and all inner-west councils are committed to this in a completely non-partisan way,” he said. “Let’s make sure that trams are not just about the past; they are also about the future.”
ETS spokesman Gavin Gatenby said the Government had failed to tackle this issue.
“We have been campaigning for a year. The tracks are there, the infrastructure is there, and it’s all in good condition. It just needs the government to make a decision. All we get is evasions and excuses. In Europe and America and other places light rail systems are the way of the future, because they work, because they are cheap, and because they are people-friendly.”
The exhibition was opened by Jill Wran, wife of retired premier Neville Wran, and former premier Bob Carr. The museum is run by the Historic Houses Trust and its chairman thanked curators and museum staff for their two years of work putting the show together.
Carr talked about growing up in Matraville catching trams to school, and gave an anecdotal overview of the huge tram network that existed in Sydney until the sixties. He did not discuss new tram lines, and did not respond to the ETS flyer.
“This is a government without guiding intelligence,” said Gatenby as ETS packed up its placards. “The advantages of light rail seem to be obvious to everyone except them.”
Check http://www.ecotransit.org.au/ for details of the light rail proposal, and http://www.hht.net.au/ to find out about the Shooting Through exhibition.

Footage returned to whaling activists

The Australian Federal Police has given back 70 hours of Animal Planet video footage confiscated when the Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin docked in Hobart in February.
The police action had been in response to Japan’s complaints to the Australian Government that the Steve Irwin was guilty of piracy on the high seas for blocking the actions of the whaling fleet.
A Sea Shepherd Australia spokesman said the videos had been returned and Animal Planet will be showing Whale Wars II in late May.
“There are no warrants or restraints on the ship or any of the crew,” he said. “No details are available on what the AFP is doing right now, but Captain Paul Watson is prepared to return to Australia to face any charges that may yet be laid. He is currently in North America trying to stop the annual slaughter of fur seals in the Canadian Arctic.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society noted on its website that Japan had resumed whale meat imports: “Norway and Iceland are unlawfully shipping Fin and Minke whale meat to Japan, and Japan is making illegal purchases of this meat. In response to this, other nations are saying nothing or sending mild letters of protest. Enforcement is non-existent. This is the first time since 1988 that whale meat has been traded.”
Japanese officials authorised the import of 5.6 tonnes of Minke whale from Norway, but tests showed the meat contained high levels of mercury. Officials said only cooked whale meat could be sold.
Meanwhile, Environment Minister Peter Garrett told the newly-formed Southern Ocean Non-Lethal Research Partnership (SORP) in Sydney last week it was necessary to develop a scientific approach “that doesn’t involve killing whales”.
SORP includes representatives from the International Whaling Commission, Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
Dr Natalie Kelly from the CSIRO presented the meeting with new data on Minke whale distribution in the Southern Ocean, after the first-ever Australian aerial whale survey in December.
“New equipment installed in our aircraft helps detect whales hidden by the ice, opening the way for a really comprehensive count of Minke whales in Antarctic waters,” she said.
Dr Nick Gales of the Australian Marine Mammal Centre said ship-based surveys in the Southern Ocean had found a decline in Minke whale populations over the past two decades. He said the Japanese whale hunt in the Southern Ocean mainly targeted Minke whales.

Sequestration

The Cold Equations

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It’s All Right Ma, I’m Only Dyin’

Steve Irwin raid: AFP acts as tool of the Japanese Government

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin, when it docked in Hobart on the 21st February.
The ship was met by a party of AFP officers who boarded the ship with a search warrant. Steve Irwin Captain Paul Watson said that among the material seized was hundreds of hours of video for the Animal Planet series Whale Wars, which he said captured some of the most dramatic whale-killing scenes ever seen.
The AFP warrant authorized the seizing of all edited and raw video footage, all edited and raw audio recordings, all still photographs, producer’s notes, interview transcripts, production meeting minutes, post production meeting minutes as well as the ship’s log books, global positioning system records, automatic radar plotting aid, purchase records, receipts, financial transaction records, voyage information and navigational plotted charts.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said the Australian Federal Police received a referral from the Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry on February 17. Japanese authorities complained to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo as well as through the Japanese Embassy in Canberra. The official complaint stemmed from the director-general of the Japanese fishing agency. He declined to show the AFP search warrant on grounds that the investigation was continuing, but he confirmed allegations were made by the Japanese that the Steve Irwin crew may have endangered safe navigation of theNisshin Maru No 3 by deploying a propeller entanglement system between February 2 and 5. Mr Watson allegedly endangered safe navigation of the same Japanese vessel by forcing a deliberate collision.
Police confiscated the ship’s logbook and video footage The crew had cooperated fully and the material taken from the vessel was now being reviewed, Mr Keelty said.
The Captain of the Steve Irwin, Paul Watson stated “Japan does not wish to see the airing of the second season of Whale Wars and is putting as much diplomatic pressure on Australia as they possibly can to prevent further exposure of their illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.”
“I wish that the Australian government would apply the same “diplomatic” pressure on Japan to end their illegal whaling operations. “The Rudd government was elected on a promise to take the Japanese whaling industry to court for their illegal whaling activities. Now they seem to be more interested in taking Sea Shepherd to court for our efforts to intervene against illegal whaling operations.”
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has demanded the federal government explain why the AFP undertook the raid. “On the face of it, this is outrageous behaviour by the Australian government to secure favour from the Japanese authorities,” Senator Brown said. “And if it wasn’t, what on earth is the Australian Federal Police up to?. It is an extraordinary raid that defies the imagination.” Senator Brown said he could think of no other explanation for why the ship was raided other than to take footage from the Animal Planet team who were on the boat.
“If this action was taken at the behest of the Japanese authorities it will outrage many Australians. The Australian Federal Police can expect detailed questioning from the Greens at Senate Estimates this coming week.”
The federal attorney-general would need to approve any prosecution arising from a raid on the Steve Irwin in Hobart, a Senate committee has been told. “We haven’t reached the stage of seeking … consent,” Bill Campbell, a senior departmental official told a Senate committee hearing on Monday.
The incident followed violent clashes between the Steve Irwin and Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean since November. Any prosecution would open an international can of worms, the hearing was told. The whaling vessels were Japanese-flagged while the Steve Irwin was flagged in the Netherlands with an international crew. Mr Watson was a Canadian and the alleged offences occurred in international waters. Australia is a signatory to the international convention on safe navigation at sea. “Each state party to the convention is obliged to take jurisdiction over offences where a possible offender is present in its territory,” according to an Australian Government official.
Watson called off his pursuit of the whalers earlier this month, saying the escalating conflict was becoming too dangerous and could result in death. Japan kills whales using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows “lethal research” on the mammals, and makes no secret of the fact that the animals’ meat is then served as food.
“I wish that the Australian government would apply the same “diplomatic” pressure on Japan to end their illegal whaling operations,” he said “The Rudd government was elected on a promise to take the Japanese whaling industry to court for their illegal whaling activities. Now they seem to be more interested in taking Sea Shepherd to court for our efforts to intervene against illegal whaling operations.”
He said the recent Animal Planet series Whale Wars was very embarrassing to the Japanese government and the Japanese whaling industry in 2008. Japan does not wish to see the airing of the second season of Whale Wars and is putting as much diplomatic pressure on Australia as they possibly can to prevent further exposure of their illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean. “It does indeed look like the Australia Government has given in to pressure from Japan with regards the embarrassment that the first series of Whale Wars caused.”
Captain Paul Watson said he would welcome a trial if it came to that. “We have to start somewhere so it may as well be by taking me to court. Let us get the evidence on the table and although a trial against Sea Shepherd and myself may not allow the introduction of evidence about Japan’s illegal whaling operations, it at least will give us the forum to present our evidence. Let’s see the Australian government bring the Japanese whale killers to Australia to bear witness against Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet and let’s see them appear as witnesses for the government of Australia that professes to be against whaling.”
“It’s a very one-sided affair,” continued Captain Watson. “The Japanese ships have not been boarded by the Australian Federal Police; they have not had their video and navigational data confiscated. They have not been questioned nor will they be, yet they violently attacked my ship and crew in the Southern Ocean. Does the law only go to bat for those who destroy nature’s creation? Are we about to see the ultimate kangaroo court where Sea Shepherd will be legally crucified because the Australian government has not lived up to their promise of taking the whale killers to court? The truth is that we would not have to be in the Southern Ocean defending the whales if the governments of the world would simply enforce the international conservation treaties they once so proudly signed into law. Without enforcement there is no law – just ecological anarchy.”
Captain Watson said he had no complaints about the Australian Federal Police – “They were very professional and polite and they were doing their job in carrying out the orders of the government.”
At least the people of Tasmania are behind Sea Shepherd even if the Australian Government are toeing the Japanese line. If it’s a choice between the support of the government and the support of the people, Watson is happy that Sea Shepherd is enjoying the support of the people.
“From the Australian government we are getting criticism and police raids,” said Captain Watson. “But from the Australian people we are getting a wonderful welcome.”
Some 2,000 people visited and toured the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin on Saturday, February 21st at MacQuarie Dock in Hobart. “It’s good to be home and it’s gratifying to see and hear what people are saying to us and how they appreciate what we are doing,” said crew member Andrew Perry of Hobart.
Andrew was married by Captain Watson to Molly Kendall of Adelaide, South Australia during the Antarctic campaign. The Green Party of Australia sent a gift basket to the happy couple. Hobart bars were offering free drinks to Sea Shepherd crew and members of the public have delivered contributions of supplies and money to the Steve Irwin.
“There is no doubt that Australia is the greatest whale loving nation on Earth,” said Swedish 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt. “This country rocks.”
The Steve Irwin will remain in Hobart for a month before moving to Melbourne. This week Captain Paul Watson will be speaking at the University of Tasmania, attending a photo exhibit about Tasmanian forests by Green Party leader Senator Bob Brown and will speak to forest activists on the front lines of the battle to save Tasmania’s old growth trees.
“These two issues, whales and trees are closely related more than people know,” said Captain Watson. “Twenty percent of Japan’s paper supply originates in Tasmania. It’s a trade-off. Australia wants to continue destroying old growth forests in Tasmania to sell to the Japanese therefore the government is willing to do the bidding of the Australian whaling industry. In return the Japanese want to kill endangered whales and are threatening trade retaliation against Australia. It seems to me that Japan needs Australia more than Australia needs Japan, but politicians tend to be afraid of anything that upsets the economic apple cart so the whales are being sacrificed so that the destruction of the forests can continue.”
When the Japanese see Australia’s Environment Minister Peter Garrett supporting the destruction of the forests, endorsing uranium mines, dredging Port Phillips bay and killing dolphins, slaughtering kangaroos and allowing shark finning, they can smile and say, ‘he’s one of us’.
“If Peter Garrett is willing to crucify me to appease the Japanese whaling industry then so be it,” said Captain Watson. “I’d rather be tossed into a cell for life than to betray my love for the diversity of life on this wonderful planet.”
Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson stated in November 2008 in reply to Garrett’s allegations of extremism:
“There is nothing more insincere than a politician just before an election. They will fire promises from the hip with a veneer of passion and resolve that is peeled quickly away after the votes are counted. Australian Environmental Minister Peter Garrett is a case in point. When Mr. Garrett was an activist musician with Midnight Oil he was a man to be proud of, a person to be deeply admired for his dedication to the cause of conservation. I once stood with him on the logging roads of the Clayquot Valley on Canada’s Vancouver Island to oppose clear-cutting. Midnight Oil performed a concert in 1993 in the middle of a logging road. Damn but we loved them and we loved Peter Garrett. He was the man!
In November 2007, I advised all of my Australian supporters and friends to vote for Labor because according to Mr. Garrett, a Rudd government would actually do something to protect whales from illegal Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Oceans Whale Sanctuary. Now so many them feel betrayed by Mr. Garrett after a year of anti-environmental stands ranging from being pro-dredging of Port Phillip Bay, to supporting logging and new pulp mills in Tasmania, to condemning kangaroos, to appeasing the Japanese whalers. How was I to know in November 2007 that Peter Garrett had been turned to the service of the darkside? He seemed like the knight-errant of modern Australian politics, a man of integrity and courage ready to fight for justice and the planet.
What we have now is the same old, same old. Just another reined in, subservient pawn in a political machine, who does what he is told and seeks to flatter and favour his political handlers instead of the people who elected him.”
The following statement was issued by Peter Garrett when he was Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage on September 18 2007:
The Australian Government must stand up and stop Japanese whaling
A Rudd Labor Government would not stand in the way of Humane Society International’s (HSI) legal challenge in the Federal Court to request an injunction to stop the Japanese from killing whales within the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
Labor has a clear policy position that we will enforce Australian law banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary. Therefore, Labor would enforce any injunction the courts decides to grant against Japanese whalers. I wish to send a powerful and clear message to the Australian public that Labor believes in enforcing Australian law. This is the right and obvious thing to do. The Howard Government has made a mockery of our laws by refusing to enforce the Whale Sanctuary protections, and it’s just not good enough, frankly. There is an ocean of clear water between the Howard Government and Labor on the issue of whaling. Labor has the guts to stand up to the Japanese whalers – the Howard Government will do no such thing. Mr Turnbull is all talk and no action. All pretty pictures of whales in his election material and no results. We expect the Government will not show support for this hearing. You wouldn’t see such timidity from a Labor Government.
If elected, Rudd Labor will not stand in the way of enforcing Australian law banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

Captain Watson noted: “It’s now hard to believe that this man Peter Garrett made this statement. When Senator Ian Campbell was Environment Minister he did much more than Mr. Garrett and he actually gave assistance to us in our efforts to protect the whales. All that has changed as the Rudd government and Peter Garrett use passive-aggressive tactics to hurt the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society financially and to force us to not utilise Australia as a base. This week Australia and Japan announced that they would be seeking a “diplomatic solution.” Translated this means more talk and little or no action.
It is very interesting to hear that Australia is referring to Sea Shepherd actions as illegal when there is no specification as to just what illegal action Sea Shepherd is allegedly doing. The situation is clear. Japanese whalers are targeting endangered whales in an established whale sanctuary in violation of a global commercial whaling moratorium and in contempt of an Australian Federal Court ruling prohibiting Japanese whaling in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion zone. The Rudd Garrett government not only has failed to stand up for the whales, they have now decided to weaken and harass the only group in the world that is actually saving the lives of whales in the Southern Ocean.
A Japanese foreign ministry official confirmed that both countries were employing diplomacy in the row. He also affirmed that Foreign Minister Smith had sought to distance the Australian government from militant environmentalists who have vowed to stop the Japanese hunt by force. Smith “stressed that the Australian government is making a clear distinction from the illegal action taken by anti-whaling groups,” the official said.
Captain Watson continued “Recently a spokesman for Mr. Garrett told the media that Sea Shepherd was a group of extremists. But the question must be asked. What is extreme about upholding international conservation law against illegal whaling activities? What is extreme about doing so without causing physical injuries to the whalers? What is extreme about doing the job that the government of Australia should be doing but clearly does not wish to do? It is frustrating beyond measure to struggle to raise the funds to voyage to the Southern Ocean while Greenpeace collects tens of millions of dollars to supposedly do the same thing and then announces two weeks before the Japanese fleet is scheduled to depart that they will not be doing what they were collecting the money to do. It is frustrating to have supported a politician based on promises he has refused to deliver and to suffer the insult upon injury of having this same politician repay our support of him with hostility and harassment. At least Mr Garrett has had a lesson in real politic this last year. He has discovered that talk really is cheap and that his real masters are in Tokyo. He has discovered that the midnight oil he is now burning is whale oil and the lives of the whales are secondary to the business of business.

Conroy’s Curtain or The Great Aussie Firewall

“Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?”
“Who watches the watchmen?”
- Juvenal, Satires, VI, 347

The Rudd Government’s plans to begin compulsory content control for Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) this year (with the stated aim of preventing the spread of child pornography) have been met with shock and disbelief by technical experts, FOI lawyers, and civil libertarians alike.
On 10 November last year Senator Conroy released an Expression of Interest seeking participation of ISPs and mobile telephone providers in a live pilot of the forethcoming mandatory system to be run early this year.
According to the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s (ACMA) last report, about half the sites on the blacklist fell under the heading “RC – Child – Depiction.” The rest were X-rated and other legal material, as well as nudity, violence, crime and sexual fantasy.
Until now ISPs have been able to ignore the (ACMA) blacklist of web pages.
The reaction from ISP’s and IT professionals has been negative. Critics of the scheme say the filters will slow internet delivery speeds, block access to legitimate sites and be pointless because the same material will be able to be found somewhere else.
Telstra has refused to take place in the pilot. “Telstra is not in a position to participate in the Government’s Internet filtering trial, primarily due to customer management issues,” a Telstra spokesperson said.
iiNet manager Michael Malone stated he has enrolled to prove “how stupid it is.”
iiNet’s website states “The government has said ‘The pilot will specifically test filtering against the ACMA black list of prohibited internet content, which is mostly child pornography, as well as filtering of other unwanted content’. iiNet believes ‘unwanted content’ can be interpreted to mean anything the government of the day wants. This is absolutely unacceptable. We have no objection to appropriate legal process, but will not accept that an anonymous government official will make a call on the basis of his or her own judgment.”
Colin Seeger of Electronic Frontiers Australia, an online freedoms and rights advocacy group, said “Senator Conroy has consistently referred to stamping out child pornography when defending this scheme to the public and to the Parliament. The plan is being represented as a ‘cyber-safety’ measure for young people, protecting them from pornography, violence and terrorism. Unfortunately We don’t know the full extent of it because the contents of the ACMA blacklist are not available due to special changes of the FOI act. It seems safe to assume that the Government could expand its blacklist and use the filters to block material they object to, such as negative political speech.”

Mass-transit Mayhem

The recently-released PriceWaterhouseCoopers report, Cities of Opportunity, contains bad news for transport planners in Sydney.
The comprehensive analysis of 20 cities examined ease of doing business, tourism, community standards, infrastructure and green qualities. It rated Sydney overall as very good averaging fifth in the world and coming top in housing, entertainment and life expectancy. But the city came last in one indicator: transport and infrastructure.
Sydney Chamber of Commerce’s Patricia Forsythe says Sydney’s mass transit system is a major throttle. “All these other cities have been building infrastructure to support their communities, metro rail in particular,” she said. “We are so far behind. You can’t be way out in front in terms of sustainability, global readiness and yet come last in public transport if you want to send a message to the world that this is a great place in which to invest and live and do business.”
NSW Transport Minister David Campbell stated that the government was aware of the problem. “The government will bring on line next year the Epping to Chatswood rail link and there are also 600 rail carriages on order,” he said.
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam called for a senate inquiry into mass transit and major investment in the nation’s public transport.
“We are initiating an audit of all public transport in his country. Australia needs to clearly understand what public transport exists, what condition it’s in, where the gaps are, and what can be done to increase its usage in the community,” he said. “We are working to shift federal funding away from roads to public passenger transport which does not currently receive any federal funds, leaving this vital responsibility entirely to the states.”
Meanwhile Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has criticised the NSW Government’s recent passing of the Transport Administration Amendment (Metro Rail) Bill 2008 which establishes a separate Sydney Metro Authority to manage plans for a CBD metro.
Ms Rhiannon said the Bill was misguided, expensive and went against the worldwide trend to integrate transport management in cities. “Sydney needs a single transport co-ordination authority, not another separate agency going about its business in isolation,” she said. “The Greens support the extension of public transport, but this $4 billion CBD metro project is not the solution to Sydney’s transport crisis. The government could deliver a better outcome at a fraction of the price by extending the existing light rail service.”

Busting the myth of carbon capture

Last November the Rudd Government announced a $100 million Global Institute grant to speed up the development of carbon capture and storage technology, bringing its spending commitment to $150 million on this project.
But while energy policymakers worldwide agree carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced drastically to prevent catastrophic climate change, some experts question the effectiveness of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to help with this problem. They also question whether it will be safe.
Phil Freedman of the Australian Conservation Foundation is among those calling for Australia to cut emissions by at least 30 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. Freedman said he was open-minded about CCS, but that it was up to the coal industry, not the taxpayer, to prove that it works and is safe.
Greens Senator Catherine Milne said that, like storage of nuclear waste, the process posed an unknown danger to future generations, with the possibility that carbon storage reservoirs could eventually leak.
“CO2 reservoirs will need to be monitored into the far future,” Senator Milne said.
CO2 is toxic. Concentrations of 5 per cent are harmful to animals and people, causing dizziness and heart disease: the air normally contains less than 0.004 per cent.
The biggest source of CO2 emissions in Australia are coal-fired power stations. Australia has 24 major power stations that supply 80 per cent of our electricity, and burn more than 250,000 tonnes of coal daily. Burning a tonne of coal creates 1.5 tonnes of CO2, so every day an enormous volume is ejected into the atmosphere – 20 million cubic metres of gas, which has to be compressed into 200 megalitres of liquid, or about the capacity of 100 Olympic pools. 365 days a year. So far, the techniques for separating CO2 from the exhaust gas have only been tested in very small-scale pilot projects.
After capture and compression, the CO2 would be transferred to a storage area. Shipping the waste by rail or sea will be expensive as liquid CO2 needs to be stored in heavy pressure vessels. In some places CO2 pipelines may be suitable, but they are a largly unproven technology and need massive investment of capital and manpower.
There are concerns that an accident while transporting the waste could have serious consequences. Also there are few suitable sequestration sites in NSW, which is by far the biggest electricity generating state.
At the storage site the waste is forced through piping to an underground depth of 1 kilometre where it is apparantly expected to stay for ever as a stable liquid.
And it won’t be cheap; according to Dr Peter Cook of CO2/CRC, a carbon storage start-up company financed by Rudd’s federal money, the extra cost of capturing CO2 from a power station may range between $30 and $45 per MWh (megawatt hour) generated. This could effectively double generation costs, which are now at $35 per MWh.
Dr Mark Diesendorf, of the Centre for Energy Research and Policy Analysis at the University of NSW, says solar and wind technologies are the solution.
He said we have an ideal environment for solar electricity generation, which is safe and low-impact technology. Research worldwide is focusing on increasing energy yields per square metre, and costs are expected to fall rapidly once production plants come online. “We should be investing in solar. It is a reliable, non-polluting energy source,” Dr Diesendorf said. “Despite an excellent pre-election policy statement on renewable energy, there has been no investment in renewable energy research and development by this government.” he explained.